SAN DIEGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Robbins
Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP (“Robbins Geller”) (http://www.rgrdlaw.com/cases/yum/)
today announced that a class action has been commenced in the United
States District Court for the Central District of California on behalf
of purchasers of Yum! Brands, Inc. (“Yum”) (NYSE:YUM) publicly traded
securities during the period between October 9, 2012 and January 7, 2013
(the “Class Period”).

If you wish to serve as lead plaintiff, you must move the Court no later
than 60 days from today. If you wish to discuss this action or have any
questions concerning this notice or your rights or interests, please
contact plaintiff’s counsel, Darren
Robbins of Robbins Geller at 800/449-4900 or 619/231-1058, or via
e-mail at djr@rgrdlaw.com. If you
are a member of this class, you can view a copy of the complaint as
filed or join this class action online at http://www.rgrdlaw.com/cases/yum/.
Any member of the putative class may move the Court to serve as lead
plaintiff through counsel of their choice, or may choose to do nothing
and remain an absent class member.

The complaint charges Yum and certain of its officers and directors with
violations of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Yum describes itself
as the world’s largest quick service restaurant company, which, through
the three concepts of KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell, develops, operates,
franchises and licenses a worldwide system of restaurants. Yum’s
business consists of four reporting segments: the China Division, the
India Division, Yum! Restaurants International, and the United States
Division.

The complaint alleges that during the Class Period, the defendants made
materially false and misleading statements concerning the Company’s
current and future business and financial condition. As a result of
defendants’ false and misleading statements, Yum common stock traded at
artificially inflated prices during the Class Period, reaching over $74
per share.

On November 23, 2012, reports in the Chinese media disclosed that
certain of the Company’s chicken suppliers had been feeding toxic
chemicals to chickens sold to KFC China. On November 29, 2012, the
Company announced that its previous forecast of single-digit to flat
China Division same-store sales growth would not be met, but instead,
the Company expected to report China Division same-store sales of -4%.
On these disclosures, Yum’s stock price fell nearly 9% to close at
$67.08 per share on November 30, 2012.

On December 20 and 21, 2012, news reports began to circulate that the
Company knew well before the Class Period that certain chicken suppliers
in China had injected chickens with excessive antibiotics and other
illegal chemicals but sought to conceal these facts. These disclosures
caused Yum’s stock price to drop further to a close of $63.88 per share
on December 21, 2012.

Then, on January 7, 2013, the Company filed a Form 8-K with the SEC
updating its full year 2012 guidance for same-store sales for its China
Division, stating that it was lowering its financial outlook due to
publicity surrounding the Chinese government’s review of its poultry
supply. As a result of the January 7, 2013 disclosures, on January 8,
2013, Yum shares dropped 5% from $67.89 per share to as low as $64.40
per share.

According to the complaint, the representations by defendants concerning
the Company’s current business and financial condition were each
materially false and misleading when made, because defendants failed to
disclose the following true facts which were known to defendants or
recklessly disregarded: (a) slowing economic trends in China were
stronger than reported and could not support the forecasted sales
results for the Company’s China Division nor the Company-wide increased
earnings per share growth; (b) defendants knew but concealed that Yum’s
own food safety inspections had already found that Chinese chicken
supplier Shandong Liuhe Group (“Shandong Liuhe”) had sold the Company
chickens with high levels of antibiotics and other illegal drugs and/or
chemicals; and (c) the Company had continued to buy products from
Shandong Liuhe until as late as August 2012.

Plaintiff seeks to recover damages on behalf of all purchasers of Yum
publicly traded securities during the Class Period (the “Class”). The
plaintiff is represented by Robbins Geller, which has expertise in
prosecuting investor class actions and extensive experience in actions
involving financial fraud.

Robbins Geller represents U.S. and international institutional investors
in contingency-based securities and corporate litigation. With nearly
200 lawyers in nine offices, the firm represents hundreds of public and
multi-employer pension funds with combined assets under management in
excess of $2 trillion. The firm has obtained many of the largest
recoveries in history and has been ranked number one in the number of
shareholder class action recoveries in MSCI’s Top SCAS 50 every
year since 2003. According to Cornerstone Research, the firm’s
recoveries have averaged 35% above the median for all firms over the
past seven years (2005-2011). Please visit http://www.rgrdlaw.com
for more information.